


Starting Point

by Mimzy6bunny



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Blood, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Longing, Mild Descriptions of Injury, Touch-Starved, but just a bit, disaster lesbian hornet, probably innacurate dressing of wounds lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:49:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28444197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimzy6bunny/pseuds/Mimzy6bunny
Summary: Exhausted, injured, and left to her own devices, Hornet is completely tired from her harsh life of fighting for survival in Pharloon, though just as things seem truly grim, she finds help in the most unlikely of places.
Relationships: Hornet/Lace (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 50





	Starting Point

**Author's Note:**

> Had this almost completely finished in my drafts for months?? but I procrastinate so much i'ts unreal, so it's only done now.

Sat by a crackling bonfire, Hornet felt the freezing wind sweep through her as if she were a small leaf, shivering as she tried to hold still. The spider squinted at the fire in front of her, trying and failing to ignore the throbbing pain on her torso.

The spider sighed as she opened her travel bag containing a few of her trinkets, now all well worn by constant use, grimly noticing no bandages had been left. Hornet wondered what to do, unconsciously gripping her bag tighter as she did so. Yes, technically she could use her silk to bind wounds, though it was much more fastidious than making thread, and exhausted as she was, probably wouldn't be able to even weave enough for a napkin.

While rummaging through her stuff more thoroughly, A nervous feeling slowly crept up on Hornet, who observed a shortage of antiseptic and overall medicine too, Only a lonely lifeblood syringe stood uselessly inside a dusty pocket. With an annoyed grunt, Hornet put her bag aside, deciding to carefully raise her red vest to more keenly examine the injury.

It couldn't be that bad, right?

.

It was impossible not to frown at the enormous quantity of dry, cracked, blood covering it. A gash travelling from the base of her armpit to her rib cage, it’s deepness did not seem uniform as the starting point was seemingly more profound in comparison. Though rather worrying, she gladly realized that it wasn’t nearly as much as previously thought. Hornet mused, it seemed to be a cut from a rather dull blade and its abrupt impact had put her in a lot of pain, she winced to remember, it was deep and its placement couldn’t be ignored as it would've been disastrous, if not fatal, had that dumb bellhead actually known how to strike, or if they had a better weapon, or if Hornet was a little misplaced or slower to react.

...Many ways it could've gone bad. The realization brought a bitter taste to her tongue, this was something Hornet simply couldn't excuse.

"I have to keep alert." She reprimanded herself. "The enemies weren't even THAT tough..." She took a pause, “I was just so tired... that the sudden ambush took a cut on me, Literally"

Hornet frowned.

The spider tried to let it slide, but this line of thought kept spreading through her mind like a contagious web. How it could’ve been her end. "The small ones aren't much of a threat though, I can more or less wave right by them..." She hummed.

"It's the other ones." Hornet tightened her hand into a fist.

The ones creeping on her like a shadow, with deadly motives that Hornet still didn't really understand, relating to the cult or personal gain...

"Especially that woman, Lace was it?" She thought, all the while knowing exactly what Lace's name was.

Hornet would never admit it to that smug face or even to herself, but that white bug had given her quite the scare. As until that point all enemies had been somewhat easy, unskilled and unprepared, just mind slaves to the cult.

But then, Hornet had the displeasure of finding Lace on the deep docks, with an irritating smile on her lips and a glint of glee in her pure white eyes. The ensuing battle had almost taken Hornet to the cold embrace of death. Even now, the princess couldn't forget how in between slashes and parries, her assaultant giggled and swerved through attacks with a grace that Hornet herself couldn't dream to possess.

Her mind wandered to how Lace's body moved whimsically, as if dancing.

.  
.  
.

Oh how it drove her mad! And Hornet already felt her face warming up, the way it happened everytime she thought of Lace, that stupid swordswoman.

She crossed her arms, supressing the need to scream bloody murder, but immediately her wound flared up under her arms' weight, a dull pain making itself known throughout her body, making the spider realize that in a fit of childish anger, she completely forgot the graveness of her own injury.

Now cursing herself for being so careless Hornet uncrossed her arms with a sigh, how in the world would she resolve this?

Deciding to look around, hornet tried to locate some source of clean water she could use to at least clean her wound properly and lessen the risks of infection.

Only plains of dirt and unwavering darkness met her eye... Well, a rag and a pint of rubbing alcohol would have to do the trick.

Hornet exhaled, pinching her forehead.

"Fuck me, I guess."

"Someone called?"

The spider jumped straight up into the air, her eyes boggled up, in a manner that would be almost comical if she didn't almost immediately double over in pain, the residual pain aggravated by such an abrupt motion.

"Oh, did I scare you?" Lace's voice did not have a hint of regret in it, in fact, she was nearly giggling.

Hornet grabbed her needle with much more force than necessary, pointing it to Lace's direction in an way that would be quite threatening, had she been standing tall and not half crouched on the floor, the hem of her vest nearly covering her chin and exposing her abdomen, while she more or less scrambled on the dirt, trying to move as far away from Lace as possible.

"Stay back!" She growled.

"Or what?" Lace teased, nonchalantly taking a step towards Hornet. "You're going to bleed to death on me?"

Hornet didn't take her eyes off Lace, she wasn't that naive, but her free hand went up her torso in an attempt to feel the injury. She felt a trickle of blood running down her side.

Fuck, she hadn't noticed it, now she truly would have to be creative, the spider bit down on her lip as her mind was already running wild with different scenarios to act upon, though admittedly, few were good on Hornet's side. She definitely wouldn't be able to fight much, expecting only to hold ground for a bit while waiting for Lace to falter and give her an opening to escape. It was a desperate situation, and Hornet knew it.

Though, no matter what, she couldn't fight from the floor. Hornet slowly rose up, using her needle as support as the pain on her side screamed in protest. She grunted. Not taking her eyes off the swordswoman for a second.

Lace all the while watched patiently, her lips locked in a neutral smile as she hummed in mirth, Her pose one of a noble.

Hornet snarled, "noble" was something Lace definitely wasn't.

The spider stood up, readying herself. An action that seemed to surprise Lace who almost imperceptibly changed her expression, her cunning smile turning upside down, her stance slacking into something much different than usual.

"I don’t want to fight." Lace found herself speaking, voice wavering together with the wind.

They were both surprised at how sincere that sounded. The spider's eyes locked on her assailant's face, not really processing the affirmation.

What the hell did she mean by that?!

"You don't want to fight." Hornet said flatly.

It was a simple statement, but it seemed to disconcert Lace anyway. The bug avoided the spider's eyes.

"You're pretty much dead anyway..." Lace seemed to scramble in an attempt to find the right words. Her face scrunching up uncharacteristically "What's the need to even put you down while in such a miserable state."

Harsh words indeed. But the timid way Lace delivered them didn't quite make it believable.

Hornet was starting to get confused. She lowered her needle slightly.

"Did you come here just to... mock me?"

Lace immediately turned her gaze back to the spider. They stared at each other. Fire dancing in their eyes as they desperately tried to read each other's intentions. Although neither seemed to actually do it.

Lace finally broke the silence.

"No, indeed I have not..." She trailed off.

Hornet was becoming impatient.

"If you're just going to waste my time." Hornet tried to put venon to her tone." you better leave, before I make you."

To her surprise, Lace actually giggled.

The spider was completely dumbfounded.

"Actually, I am here to help." She smirked, "No need for jovial threats".

Hornet became stunned beyond words, her face growing red as she watched Lace's face a second too long.

"No, you're not...?" She replied dumbly. "We are enemies?" Hornet lowered her needle further.

"Are we now?"

Hornet sputtered. "Of course! You tried to skewer me to death last time I saw you"

What kind of sick game was Lace playing on her?

"Well, I was just asking, since you seemed so unsure of it yourself." She coyly remarked.

"Me, Unsure?!" Hornet repeated to herself incredulously. "Never!"

Lace smiled sincerely at the spider's childish stubbornness, turning her face away so the other couldn't tease her about it.

"It's fine though," Lace brought her hands up, making Hornet realize she hadn't had her pin on her this whole time "I'm not here to make friends either"

"So what even..!" Hornet felt her needle heavy in her hand.

She was starting to feel lightheaded.

"Do you ever listen? She rolled her eyes. "I said I wanted to help" With a sigh, Lace brought her hands back down, then unceremoniously turned back and started walking away as if her patience had run out.

"Hey! Come back!" The spider felt silly while calling for her attacker, but couldn't stop the words leaving her mouth.

As she watched Lace ignore her and leave, Hornet felt slightly offended her rival would just turn her back to her. Of course, she wasn't a backstabber, but even then did Lace not fear her even a little? The spider felt a small pang in her chest at the idea.

She saw the white bug disappear over the dark horizon.

“Where are you going?!" Was she going to leave Hornet alone? The spider felt troubled at the idea for a reason she couldn't fathom.

Was she actually considering Lace's help? The thought of it scared her.

As hornet brought her hand close to her injury, she realized her clothes were terribly stained. And some of the blood had already dried, how long had she been bleeding?

She wanted to lay down. But before she could Lace appeared back into view, now carrying a brown leather bag. And It took a few tense seconds before she approached enough for them to properly talk, though when it happened, Hornet was speechless.

Not even looking at Hornet, she opened the bag, retrieving a fluffy white towel from inside then gracefully set it on the dirt below.

"It's not ideal, but it'll do." She hummed to herself as if Hornet wasn't there, only to a second later abruptly gesture to the spider. "Lay down."

"No." Hornet replied, already feeling her knees close to giving out.

Lace stared at her, unamused.

The freezing wind lapped at the both of them, though only Hornet seemed affected by it. Feeling her whole body drop in temperature as Lace stared her down, arms crossed and all, the spider averted her eyes.

"Fine." Hornet kneeled on the towel, feeling fireworks go off inside her exhausted frame "But if you try anything, I won’t hold back!"

That made Lace laugh "Not to worry, I won't make any moves on you, little spider".

That made Hornet sputter. Now laying down in complete embarrassment. "You know what I mean..." She tried justifying herself.

But to her joy, Lace seemed to give up on teasing. Instead deciding to actually treat Hornet, as she kneeled beside the spider and slowly reached for her the way someone would a cornered animal. Exchanging a glance with her in a silent plea for permission, and when Hornet only grumbled affirmatively, Lace delicately pulled the hem of her dress up, revealing the injury. Hornet tensed immediately, her hands locking up in fists as she stared daggers at the bug in front of her. Then made sure her needle was within grabbing distance.

Lace didn't seem to notice or care about Hornet's reaction as she was busy searching through the bag, eventually taking out a water canteen and a bar of soap.

“It seems the bleeding stopped…” Lace whispered to no one in particular. Washing her hands thoroughly as the other watched. Silence reigning among them.

Hornet observed her with curious attention, as she had done this same process by herself time and time again, but never had someone do it for her. The mundanity of it calmed her nerves a bit so when Lace finally reached to touch Hornet, her fingers making light contact with the other’s torso, the spider almost didn't flinch in how foreign that was to her as Lace gently smeared soap around the wound, making sure all debris and blood were washed out.

This act for some reason made Hornet gasp, not at all used at such kindness, she then held her breath in embarrassment. Feeling her stomach twist nervously as a weird and new emotion crashed over her like a wave. Hoping that Lace couldn't sense how fastened her heartbeat was. Nervously, Hornet looked up to Lace's face only to surprise herself as Lace was already staring at her, a second that seemed way too long went by.

Lace was the first to break away from it, avoiding Hornet’s eyes as she spoke "Were you... bleeding all day?"

That question took the spider by surprise, as she wrecked her mind for a few seconds to answer. "Maybe."

It was a dry answer, Hornet knew it, and Lace seemed dissatisfied with it too the spider noticed. Though why that brought such a wave of discomfort within herself was a complete mystery to Hornet.

She opened her mouth to add something else, only to be startled by the burn of antiseptic against her injured skin. Grunting loudly in response. Lace looked at her wide eyed.

“Oh, sorry!” She exclaimed, “Didn’t mean for that to hurt” Lace laughed meekly in slight embarrassment.

“Uh…” Such words and expressions were so uncharacteristic from the swordswoman she knew, that Hornet found herself speechless while looking at Lace’s face above her. She blinked twice “Don’t worry.”

Fortunately, Lace didn’t seem to catch on to the other’s flustering.

“It’ll hurt just a bit more,” Lace said before applying it again. And Hornet winced, but not from the lotion, but rather from feeling Lace’s hand brush slowly against her skin.

“I think I’m turning feverish…” Hornet thought weakly, and in fact she was slowly entering some type of daze, as Lace’s words slowly turned quieter and her eyes were heavy with the want to sleep.

To be hunted all day, to live always on the brink of complete exhaustion, Hornet hadn’t realized how much of a toll that had taken on her body till she was allowed to rest in the arms of someone else. Such comfort and warmth were a distant memory to her.

“She’s your enemy, she’ll kill you if you sleep”. A small part of Hornet subconscious said, but as Hornet looked up to Lace, she couldn't bring herself to listen.

“Oh,” A series of giggles brought Hornet from the brink of sleep “I’m talking your ear off and you’re already sleeping”.

“I’m not...sleeping…”

Lace leaned down, her face a few inches from Hornet’s.

"It 's okay.” She smiled, “just sleep, darling.”

Hornet mumbled something, but was already asleep, her mind filled with old lullabies of a dying kingdom as Lace’s soft murmurs danced in her ears. And though she didn’t feel it, a brief kiss was pressed softly against her temple that night.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like the ending was a bit too sappy? but maybe that's cause I was the one who wrote it,,, anyways thanks for reading my story! Also I did google how to treat wounds and read quite a bit too,, but it's probably not very accurate lol


End file.
